Rocket Base
The Rocket Base is an Autobot Micro Transformer base. The enormously powerful Rocket Base is a potent force for good in the universe. Whether it's serving as the headquarters for Star Saber's team of Autobots or shuttling interstellar hero Countdown around the galaxy, it is a beacon standing tall against Decepticon tyranny. The base converts from a mobile launching pad and rocket into a full command center. It is also known as the Shuttle Base (シャトル基地 Shuttle Kichi). History Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity ''Victory'' cartoon The Shuttle Base moves across the landscape on massive caterpillar treads as its crew scans the planet for Decepticon activity. Among its many levels are personal quarters, a laboratory, an infirmary, an armory, and more, while the exterior of the base is a rocket launch pad from which Galaxy Shuttle is deployed. Notes * The Rocket Base shown in the 1989 catalog has a vastly different, -esque rocket with five boosters and an extremely tapered nose. It transforms identically to the final version, however. The gantry is also different, in that there is no detachable platform to allow access to the rocket and instead there are latches to hold the rocket in place upright against the gantry. Said latches fold down to form the legs of the gantry platform in base mode. Also, two extra cannons fold out from two slots next to the large sculpted monitor detail in the main body of the base. * The design of the Rocket Base was used for the Autobots' Shuttle Base headquarters from 1989's Japanese series, Victory, though it only appeared in the cartoon and was never shown to transform. The toy wasn't released until the following year, during the Zone series, where it was called by its original American name of "Rocket Base" and was employed in fiction slightly differently. ** While it is unclear if the Shuttle Base and the Rocket Base were originally intended to be the same structure, The Ark II has declared them to be so. * At some point in the Micromaster years, there were plans for a base very similar to the Rocket Base. It is unknown whether it was an alternative design for the Rocket Base or meant to be released alongside it. * Countdown's base is another victim of galaxy/solar system confusion. His original tech spec states that the ship uses gravitational pulls to "slingshot across entire galaxies in seconds", as if that were physically possible (not that slingshotting across an entire solar system in seconds would be any more likely.) His More than Meets the Eye profile adds in a mention of "experimental transwarp engines" to make this a bit more digestible, but retains a questionable mention of how the ship can "slingshot across the galaxy in mere moments." *For color variation completists, Takara also released a Lucky Draw version of the Micro Rocket Base. It was cast mostly in white plastic. *Undocumented in the instructions and in most promotional pictures is the fact that the upper level catwalk for the base mode is meant to attach to the two holes in the gantry to allow Micromasters access from the elevator to the rocket. Many promos mistakenly place the twin guns in those holes. Foreign names *''Japanese:'' Rocket Base (ロケットベース Roketto Bēsu) References ::*''More information on the Rocket Base (with Countdown) at TFU.info'' Category:Autobot bases Category:locations Category:Micro Transformer vehicles